Friday, July 24, 2015

Runcationing


It's true, the best and fastest way to explore a new place is by running. Unfortunately, I can't stand running with my phone so usually the cool places I visit go undocumented. Earlier this summer I was in Newport, RI for the first time and enjoyed a run/hop/skip along the cliff walk. Unfortunately, no T Swift sightings. Ran to something called Purgatory Chasm, wicked cool spot on the ocean, wish I'd brought a camera for that one. I was there for a scientific conference, so I also went for a walk on the cliff walk (what a crazy notion) with some colleagues and took pictures then. The views were incredible...

Newport Cliff Walk



This past weekend I was in beautiful Bar Harbor for a quick vacation with Ben's extended family. We ran around Eagle Lake on Saturday which brought back all sorts of memories for me;  huffing up the hills in my one-speed Huffy back in the day with my family, the final "long run" (it's 6 miles) we took the campers on for Colby XC camp, doing LTP with friends after said long run, dangerously hurdling the gates with terrible form, and chatting with the sub-4 miler crew of guys filming a documentary up there. I've been battling a hamstring/IT band issue for about 6wks now (although pretended it was fine the first 4 of 6), so I and Ben's brother opted for rental bikes Sunday and accompanied Ben on his long run. After biking to the trailhead, we set off. All was rainbows and butterflies and fun downhills until we started going up. And up. And up. Turns out we picked a loop that included going up Sargent mountain and we ended up on continuous incline for 2 miles. Woof. Jumping on a bike for the first time in a year should not have involved climbing a mountain. We didn't manage to get sunshine for either of the days we were there but it was serene and wonderful as always. Glad to get this healthy dose of trails and nature.

Bubble Pond
View from our room at the Bar Harbor Inn
Eagle Lake

Until next time,
Robyn "running wild" Runner